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U.S. AMATEUR FOUR-BALL

The 2022 U.S. Amateur Four-Ball Championship will be the third USGA event conducted at the Country Club of Birmingham. (USGA/Russell Kirk)

A third USGA championship is coming to the Country Club of Birmingham in Alabama. Nine years after it host the 2013 U.S. Mid-Amateur Championship – the club’s first – the 36-hole facility that was designed by renowned architect Donald Ross has been chosen by the USGA to host the 2022 U.S. Amateur Four-Ball Championship.

The dates of the championship will be May 14-18.

“The Country Club of Birmingham will be an outstanding venue for the U.S. Amateur Four-Ball because of its passionate engagement with amateur golf, its history of successful USGA championships and its two world-class golf courses,” said John Bodenhamer, the USGA’s senior managing director of Championships. “The players at the 2022 Four-Ball will be thoroughly challenged on the course but also thoroughly welcomed in all their on-site experiences.”

Founded in 1898, the Country Club of Birmingham relocated from its original site in North Birmingham to Shades Valley, where two 18-hole courses (East and West) were designed by Ross and opened in 1926. Robert Trent Jones Sr. and Pete Dye have contributed revisions to the West Course.

“This is a signal honor for the Country Club of Birmingham, as we will become one of a very few clubs to host three USGA national championships in a decade’s time, and it reflects our continued commitment to promoting amateur golf and our special bond with the USGA,” said club president Harlan Prater. “We look forward to hosting the competitors and renewing our friendships with the USGA staff.”

The Country Club of Birmingham most recently hosted the 2016 USGA Men's State Team Championship. (USGA/Russell Kirk)

The Country Club of Birmingham previously hosted the aforementioned U.S. Mid-Amateur in 2013, won by Michael McCoy, and the final USGA Men’s State Team Championship in 2016, won by Michigan.

The club has hosted 10 Alabama State Amateurs and served as the stroke-play co-host course to Shoal Creek for the 1986 U.S. Amateur. The course has also served as a sectional qualifying site for numerous USGA championships through the years, most recently for the U.S. Junior Amateur in 2012 and 2014.

The U.S. Amateur Four-Ball Championship, which debuted in 2015, is limited to amateur golfers with no age restrictions. Partners comprising teams or sides are not required to be from the same club, state or country. Entry is limited to individuals with a Handicap Index® not to exceed 5.4.

The U.S. Amateur Four-Ball consists of 128 two-player teams, each playing their own ball throughout the round. Each team’s score is determined by using the lower score of the partners for each hole. After 36 holes of stroke play, the field is reduced to the low 32 teams for the championship’s match-play bracket (all matches contested at 18 holes).

Both the East and West courses will be used for stroke play, with the match-play portion contested on the West Course.

In 2019, the 5th U.S. Amateur Four-Ball Championship will be conducted May 25-29 at Bandon Dunes Golf Resort in Bandon, Ore.; the 2020 championship will be played at Philadelphia (Pa.) Cricket Club; and the 2021 championship will be conducted at Chambers Bay in University Place, Wash., and stroke-play co-host the Home Course in DuPont, Wash.

Cole Hammer and Garrett Barber won the 2018 U.S. Amateur Four-Ball in May, with a 4-and-3 victory over Marc Dull and Chip Brooke at Jupiter Hills Club in Tequesta, Fla.

Brian DePasquale is a manager of championship communications for the USGA. Email him at bdepasquale@usga.org.